(Last night the Lord thundered at my door with hail about the size of golf balls. This morning He made me cry with this story. Life is an adventure with Him in it, life is scary without Him in it)

Here is His story

It was the party of the year . Long awaited by everyone, the one where there would be old friends, good food and so much needed laughter between friends. Everyone was planning for this day. The day that would be remembered all year long.

There was so much to do that it actually took all year to prepare for this party. It took all their extra time and thoughts.

The day arrived and everyone arrived in such great spirits. All had decided to leave their troubles behind and to truly enjoy this evening.

The gifts were all placed on the center table. This was to be the final event, the one that everyone waited anxiously for. This was the gift exchange. Each person would open one gift and then it would either be taken by the next person or passed by for another gift that was on the table. You never knew what you would end up with at the end of the evening, but that was part of the fun.

When the time came to open the gifts, everyone saw it all at once. There it was on the table, the most beautiful gift of all. It was undescribably beautiful. Never before had they had such a gift as beautiful as this. The hostess knew at once that everyone would want this gift, so she thought quickly and decided that everyone should get a chance at this gift. She decided to auction this gift off and the highest bidder would get this gift. The money, then would be given to the charity, that they all agreed upon. When she asked everyone what they thought of this, they all agreed.

It was now time to open all the presents and the best would be saved for last. The last one was auctioned off and because everyone was in such lively spirits, there was much laughter and much money offered for this gift. The final bid came in and then the present was opened.

Everyone was stunned. They were speechless. They couldn’t believe what they saw. There it was in all its glory, a dead decaying rattlesnake. After what seemed like an hour of an uncomfortable moment, someone spoke up, “Boy did we ever get fooled. What a great joke?” The ice was broken, the moment was passed. Someone else replied, “At least we earned a lot of money for a charity!” The gift was then accepted and forgotten.

Forgotten that is until they found the truly forgotten gift. It was the gift that was never displayed. Under the table remained the last gift in a tattered cloth, one that was not very pleasant to look at. The hostess did not know who had brought it, but was too embarrassed to put it out, so she had place it under the table out of sight.

Later that evening someone dropped something by the table. “What’s this? The gift that nobody wanted. Well, maybe if that beautiful gift was so horrible, this ugly gift may be something good. I’ll open it!” Without thinking what would be done with this gift, the guest quickly opened it.

Everyone was stunned. They were speechless. In this package was the most beautiful old family Bible that you can possibly imagine. No one had seen anything as beautiful as this.

And in it was this note that said, “I did not have enough money to find the proper wrapping for this beautiful treasure. It deserves so much more, but throw away the wrapping and find a place for this treasure, a place that it truly deserves. It belonged to the dear friend of all of ours that died last year. Before she died, she said that she wanted this Bible for our special party. It belonged to Mary. I would have come myself, but I have fallen on hard times and was too embarrassed to come, and I did not want to spoil your evening with my sorrows. With Love from an old friend.”

Everyone was troubled in their hearts. Mary has died? When did this happen, how? Who was it that was having hard times? Everyone had been so busy preparing for the party, that they hadn’t been aware of the other events that took place that year.

This definately would be the party that they would remember forever.

They all gathered together and held hands and that night they prayed together, cried together, healed together and were determined to find their lost friend. They would take the money auctioned for that horrible gift and return all their other gifts and find their friend and help her in any way they could. Whatever care their friend needed, they would see that he or she got it.

Some of the lessons that I got out of this story are:

Life was never meant to be lived at a fast pace, "In The Beginning" it had been meant to be lived out for all eternity.

Sometimes sin comes in the most beautiful packages and so we never recognize it for what it is until God reveals it to us.

Sometimes the most beautiful gifts of Love are the ones that we may never see, because of our pride.

Please feel free to offer editing suggestions. I get so excited about sharing His stories, that don't take the time, like this story says to do, to see what I may have missed. Please help me with this.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Desert Rose or search for articles on the same topic or others.

Leslie, the story was perfect!!! I sure hope I don't miss the gift. Pride is one of those enemies that will blindside us if we aren't careful. And I sure don't want to miss my blessing while I've got my eye on something shiny. The story really is perfect... I assure you.